“Sitting. It’s the new smoking.” You’ve
heard this claim. Vancouver Spine Care Centre sees the effects of sitting in our
Vancouver chiropractic practice in the form of back pain, neck pain
and related issues. Let’s discuss
sitting and being sedentary workers and what we can do
about it.
SITTING COMPARISON TO SMOKING
Is the sitting and smoking a little glaring?
Maybe. One medical report stated that 300 news articles mention this claim! (1) Glaring or not, it does draw attention to the concern that
sitting a lot is not healthy for anyone. 25% of adults Vancouver
chiropractic patients and adults included sit more than 8 hours a day.
Older adults are said to sit for even more time.
(2) Vancouver Spine Care Centre knows we all sit. We are not
shaming you! We’re with you!
THE STATE OF NSCLBP in SEDENTARY WORKERS
Sitting is what we do. Researchers document
that the activity level of low back pain suffers is low. Of 300 patients, 32.5% lead sedentary
lives, 48.5% live underactive lifestyles, and 68.3% of them did
not do any activity to increase muscle strength
or flexibility. (3) Continued sitting posed a risk for
all-cause mortality independent of physical
activity even if it’s of moderate to vigorous effort. The best
suggestion is to decrease sitting time
not just increase physical activity levels. (4) Vancouver Spine Care Centre urges
both, too!
WHAT CAN WE DO? EXERCISE (AND A BONUS: RESPIRATION
IMPROVEMENT)
One author opined the conundrum
of the “exercise to buffer sitting’s effect” implication as an
“inconvenient truth”: a few weekly visits to the fitness center
can’t really erase a lifetime of sitting. He
also shared that fixing the sitting issue by standing has its
own problems (beyond its being uncomfortable!) like varicose
veins and foot pain. (5) So what then, particularly
for low back pain sufferers? Dynamic strengthening exercises – those that concentrate
on core and global stabilization as well as endurance in stabilizing
musculature – showed better improvement in pain relief and better
function particularly in the lumbar multifidus and transversus
abdominus which are 2 muscles that low back pain affects.
(6) More specifically, a 20-week lumbar stabilization exercise
and muscle strengthening exercise program decreased low back pain
and functional disability in sedentary workers. A lumbar stabilization exercise
program proved more helpful and lasted
for 12 weeks. (7) An advantage to lumbar segmental stabilization
exercise is that it activated the deep muscles and enhanced
respiratory function and pressure in chronic low back pain patient who had
segmental instability. (8) Respiration is a big deal! Another study
demonstrated that forced breathing exercise therapy effectively improved
trunk stability and daily living activities in chronic low back pain patients, particularly
for those with chronic lumbago in whom these exercises reduced
pain. (9) Exercise works! It is not
everything for us sedentary folks, but exercise is a part of the solution.
CONTACT Vancouver Spine Care Centre
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Shawn Nelson on The Back Doctors Podcast about The
Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management’s role in back pain
management to help a runner re-gain his stride despite his facet syndrome back
pain condition that irritates us sitting folks.
Schedule you Vancouver chiropractic appointment
with Vancouver Spine Care Centre today. If “sitting is the new smoking” issue describes
you and back pain complicates it, Vancouver
chiropractic care is for you…besides trying not to sit so much and exercising a bit
more!